Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D62/00—Semiconductor bodies, or regions thereof, of devices having potential barriers
  • H10D62/10—Shapes, relative sizes or dispositions of the regions of the semiconductor bodies; Shapes of the semiconductor bodies
  • H10D62/13—Semiconductor regions connected to electrodes carrying current to be rectified, amplified or switched, e.g. source or drain regions
  • H10D62/137—Collector regions of BJTs
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D10/00—Bipolar junction transistors [BJT]
  • H10D10/40—Vertical BJTs
  • H10D10/421—Vertical BJTs having both emitter-base and base-collector junctions ending at the same surface of the body
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D30/00—Field-effect transistors [FET]
  • H10D30/60—Insulated-gate field-effect transistors [IGFET]
  • H10D30/64—Double-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor [DMOS] FETs
  • H10D30/65—Lateral DMOS [LDMOS] FETs
  • H10D30/657—Lateral DMOS [LDMOS] FETs having substrates comprising insulating layers, e.g. SOI-LDMOS transistors
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D64/00—Electrodes of devices having potential barriers
  • H10D64/20—Electrodes characterised by their shapes, relative sizes or dispositions 
  • H10D64/27—Electrodes not carrying the current to be rectified, amplified, oscillated or switched, e.g. gates
  • H10D64/311—Gate electrodes for field-effect devices
  • H10D64/411—Gate electrodes for field-effect devices for FETs
  • H10D64/511—Gate electrodes for field-effect devices for FETs for IGFETs
  • H10D64/514—Gate electrodes for field-effect devices for FETs for IGFETs characterised by the insulating layers
  • H10D64/516—Gate electrodes for field-effect devices for FETs for IGFETs characterised by the insulating layers the thicknesses being non-uniform

Definitions

• the present invention relates in general to semiconductor devices and is particularly directed to an improved high breakdown transistor structure formed in a thin dielectrically isolated region while retaining a low collector resistance.
• Dielectrically isolated island structures are commonly employed in integrated circuit architectures for supporting a variety of circuit components, such as bipolar transistor devices, junction field effect devices, DMOS circuits, etc.
• a high impurity concentration (N+) buried subcollector region 11 is formed at the bottom of an island (e.g. silicon) region 10 that is dielectrically isolated from a support substrate 12 (e.g. silicon) by means of a layer of insulator material (e.g. silicon oxide) 14 therebetween.
• the thickness of subcollector region 11 may be on the order of fivs to fifteen microns, depending on how heavily doped it is and to what magnitude of Dt product it is subjected during wafer processing.
• the thickness of the N- island 10, in the upper surface of which a P base region 15, an N+ emitter region 16 (formed in base region 15) and an N+ collector contact region 17 are formed, must be sufficiently large to support the base-collector depletion region layer without causing the peak field in the depletion layer to exceed the field at which the transistor goes into collector-emitter breakdown with the base open circuited, BVCEO.
• BVCEO base open circuited
• minimum island thickness With a collector-base junction depth in the range of two to eight microns, minimum island thickness will therefore be relatively large (on the order of 22 microns) and therefor costly to manufacture.
• the large size of such thick islands is also due to the fact that their sidewalls are sloped or inclined as a result of the application of an anisotropic etchant through a photolithographic mask the size of which defines the bottom of the island.
• the minimum front surface dimension of the finished island cannot be less than the minimum bottom dimension plus two times cot a times the island thickness, where a is the angle between the island si ⁇ ewall and the island surface. This angle for typical dielectric isolation fabrication techniques using ⁇ 100> oriented wafers is on the order- of 55 degrees.
• the minimum island width will be 31 microns, plus a minimum bottom dimension on the order of 10 microns, yielding a minimum lateral island dimension of 41 microns for a 100V buried layer NPN transistor.
• this width is considerably greater than that normally attributed to small components, it effectively represents wasted space.
• the considerable occupation area (and thickness) of transistor structures that achieve low collector resistance by means of a buried subcollector region at the bottom of the island is substantially reduced by means of a thin dielectrically isolated island structure, in which the impurity concentration of the reduced thickness isl ⁇ .nd region is tailored to provide a region of reduced resistance for providing a low resistance current path from an island location directly beneath the base region t- the collector contact.
• the potential of the support substrate is established at a value which is less than the maximum collector voltage, so that the portion of the collector (island) directly beneath the base is depleted of carriers prior to the electric field at that location reaching the value that causes BVCEO breakdown, so as not to effectively reduce BCVEO. Since the support substrate bias potential depletes some of the region of the island beneath the base region of carriers, the doping of the island can be increased compared to the case where the substrate is not biased, while maintaining the electric field at this location less than the BVCEO field.
• a bipolar transistor structure is formed within a dielectrically isolated island region in a support substrate by forming a base region in a first surface portion of the island region, such that the semiconductor material of the island region extends beneath the base region and thereby separates a bottom portion of the base region from the bottom of the island region.
• the support substrate may surround the dielectrically isolated island or may be configured as a semiconductor (silicon) on insulator architecture in which a channel of conductive (doped polysilicon) material dielectrically isolated from both the substrate and the island region is disposed adjacent to (the side surfaces of) the island region.
• the polysilicon channel may be biased at a voltage different from that of the substrate, because its bias does not influence the region beneath the base (as it is not a boundary to that region) .
• the voltage applied to the polysilicon channel is not to be constrained.
• An emitter region is formed in the base region and a collector contact is formed in a surface portion of the island region spaced apart from the base region.
• the impurity concentration of the island collector region is greater at its interface with the base region than at the bottom portion of the island, so as to provide a low collector resistance path through the collector from a location immediately beneath the base to the collector contact.
• the substrate is biased at a potential, relative to the potential of the collector island region, such that, in the presence of a voltage bias differential applied between the island region and the base, that portion of the collector region which extends beneath the base region and separates the bottom of the base from the bottom of the island region is depleted of carriers prior to the occurrence of a breakdown voltage field between the collector island region and the base.
• Tailoring of the impurity concentration of the island region at its interface with the base region may be accomplished by introducing (ion implantation, diffusion) of impurities into the surface of the island region to form a higher (than the island) impurity region that extends from the surface of the island to a depth some defined distance deeper than the depth of the base, so that it extends beneath the bottom of the base region and above the bottom of the lower impurity concentration island region.
• the tailored doping may also extend completely through the island region, so that the island region acquires a graded impurity concentration profile decreasing from the surface of the island region and extending to & depth (e.g. its entire thickness) deeper than the dept ⁇ of the base region.
• the depth of the impurity concentration-tailoring region may be less than that of the base region, so that it terminates at a side portion of the base region.
• reduced collector resistance is achieved by forming a semiconductor guard region of the same conductivity type as the base region, contiguous with and having a depth greater than that of the base region, so that the guard region effectively interrupts any surface path through tie island to the collector contact region.
• the substrate is biased at potential, relative to that of the island region, such that a portion of the island region which extends beneath the base and separates the bottom of the base region from the bottom of the island region is depleted of carriers prior to the occurrence of a breakdown voltage field between the collector island region and the base region in the presence of a voltage bias differential applied between the island region and the base.
• the deep guard region may be formed in the shape of a ring, contiguous with the lateral perimeter of the base, or it may be contiguous with one end of the base and extend across the width of the island region so as to intersect dielectric material through which the island region is dielectrically isolated from the substrate. Additionally, the second embodiment may be augmented by the addition of the impurity concentration-tailoring region of the first embodiment.
• thu above-described impurity concentration- tailoring region may be employed to reduce the resistance of the drain-drift region of a DMOS structure.
• tho island region acts as the drain, with the channel being .-formed in a surface body region of opposite conductivity type with respect to the island.
• a drain contact region is formed in a surface portion of the island region spaced apart from the channel region.
• the source region is formed in the opposite conductivity type surface body region containing the channel.
• Overlying the channel is a gate insulator layer, the gate metal itself overlapping the source and island regions between which the channel is defined.
• the resistance- reducing region extends from the surface of the island to some defined distance deeper than the depth of the channel-containing body region, so that it extends beneath the bottom of the channel-containing body region and above the bottom of the lower impurity concentration island region. Again, the lowest impurity concentration of the island region occurs beneath the bottom of the body region.
• the support substrate is biased at a voltage less than the drain voltage, so that the island region between the body region and the underlying support substrate be ⁇ o.nes totally depleted of carriers before the breakdown field is reached in that region.
• Figure 1 diagrammatically illustrates the device structure of a conventional dielectrically isolated island region containing an NPN bipolar transistor having a high impurity concentration (N+) buried subcollector region;
• Figure 2 diagrammatically illustrates a first embodiment of the present invention incorporated with a dielectrically isolated island containing an NPN bipolar transistor structure
• Figure 3 shows the incorporation of the embodiment of Figure 2 into an SOI architecture
• Figure 4 shows a modification of the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 2, in which the depth of the impurity concentration-tailoring region is less than that of the base region
• Figure 5 shows a second embodiment of the invention having a deep semiconductor guard region contiguous with the base region
• Figure 6 is a sectional perimeter of a version of the second embodiment of the invention having a deep guard region
• Figure 7 shows a third embodiment of the invention, for reducing the resistance of the drain-drift region of a DMOS structure.
• a first embodiment of the present invention is shown as comprising a bipolar (e.g. NPN) transistor structure 20 formed within an (N type silicon) island region 21 dielectrically isolated from a (silicon) support substrate 12 by means of an (oxide) insulator layer 14 at the bottom 22 and sidewalls 24 of island r&c ion si .
• a bipolar transistor structure 20 formed within an (N type silicon) island region 21 dielectrically isolated from a (silicon) support substrate 12 by means of an (oxide) insulator layer 14 at the bottom 22 and sidewalls 24 of island r&c ion si .
• transistor 20 contains a (P type) base region 15 disposed in a first surface portion of N island region 21, such that the semiconductor material of island region 21 extends beneath the bottom 25 of base region 15 and thereby separates the bottom 25 of the base region from the bottom 22 of the island region.
• Support substrate 12 may surround dielectrically isolated island 21, as shown in Figure 2, or it may be configured as a semiconductor (silicon) on insulator architecture, diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 3 as having a channel 31 of conductive (doped polysilicon) material disposed adjacent to (the side surfaces of) island region 21 and dielectrically isolated from both substrate 12 and island region 21 by insulator layer 34.
• Polysilicon channel 31 may be biased at a voltage different from that of substrate 12, so that its bias does not influence that portion of island region 21 beneath base If* (as the channel is not a boundary to that region) . As a consequence, the voltage applied to the polysilicon channel need not be constrained.
• NPN transistor 20 further includes an N+ emitter region 16 formed in a surface portion of base region 15, and an N+ collector contact region 17 formed in a surface portion of the island region spaced apart from base region 15 by a separation region 18 therebetween.
• an upper (N type) portion 23 of island region 21, which extends from the top surface 27 of the island to a depth beneath the bottom 25 ⁇ : base region 15, has an impurity concentration which is greater at its interface with the base region than a lower (N- type) portion 26 adjacent to the bottom 22 of the island.
• Region 23 may be formed (by ion implant, diffusion) non-selectively, without the need for special masking, or it may be selectively introduced into only specified island regions within substrate 12, as required by a particular design.
• this relatively higher impurity concentration of upper portion 23 provides a low collector resistance path through the (collector) island from a location 41 within the collector island beneath that portion of base region 15 which underlies emitter region 16 thiough the N type material of the upper portion 23 of the island to collector contact region 17.
• this region of increased doping would cause a higher electric field (resulting in a lower BVCEO) in the base-collector depletion layer that is formed in the portion 45 of island region 21 beneath base region 15 than would occur in the absence of the increased doping.
• biasing substrate 12 at a potential, relative to the potential of the collector island region 21, such that, in the presence of a voltage bias differential applied between the island (collector) region 21 and emitter region 16, that portion 45 of the collector island region 21 which extends beneath base region 15 and separates the bottom 25 of the base from the bottom 22 of the island region 21 becomes depleted of carriers prior to the occurrence of a breakdown voltage field between the collector island region 21 and emitter region 16.
• portion 41 of the region 45 beneath the base becomes depleted of carriers, so that its doping may be increased to a higher concentration than would be possible in the absence of a substrate bias, while maintaining the electric field at that location at less than the BVCEO field.
• portion 45 of the collector island region 21 beneath base 15 is fully depleted by the combined action of the substrate bias and reverse base- collector junction bias prior to reaching the breakdown field, the collector voltage may be increased further until a breakdown field is reached in a lateral portion of the base-collector junction (away from region 45) .
• the tailoring of the impurity concentration profile of island region 21 for providing a reduced resistance path between the base and the collector contact region 17 may be accomplished by introducing (ion implantation, diffusion) impurities into the upper surface 27 of the island region 21, so that higher (than the island) impurity concentration region 23 extends from the upper surface 27 of the island to a location some defined distance deeper than the depth of base region 15, whereby region 23 extends beneath the bottom 25 of the base region, yet still leaving a lower N- portion 26 of increased resistivity adjacent to the bottom 22 of island region 21.
• This tailored doping may also extend completely through the island region, so that the island region acquires a graded impurity concentration profile decreasing from upper surface 27 and extending to bottom 22 of island r ⁇ gion. Again, the upper part of the island will be more heavily doped, so that the lowest impurity concentration of the collector island region occurs beneath the bottom of the base region.
• the depth of the impurity concentration-tailoring region 23 may ae relatively shallow or less than that of base region 15, so that it terminates at a side portion 51 of the base region, as illustrated in the embodiment of Figure 4.
• reduced collector resistance is achieved by forming a deep semiconductor guard region 61 of the same conductivity type as, contiguous with and having a depth in collector island region 21 greater than that of base region 15, so that the deep guard region 61 effectively interrupts any surface path from that portion 41 of the collector island 21 underlying the emitter region 16 to collector contact region 17.
• Substrate 12 is biased at a voltage which is less than the collector voltage, such that the combined action of the base-collector bias and the substrate bias depletes that portion 65 of island region 21 between the bottom 63 of deep guard region 61 and the bottom 22 of island region 21 of carriers prior to the occurrence of a breakdown voltage field between the collector island region and the base region.
• deep guard region 61 may e formed in the shape of a ring contiguous with the lateral perimeter of the base, as indicated in Figure 5. It ⁇ .ay also be formed so as to be contiguous with one end of base region 15 and extend across the width of the island region 21, so as to intersect dielectric material 14 through which the island region is dielectrically isolated from the substrate 12, as shown by the sectional perspective illustration of Figure 6. Collector resistance is kept low because thicker or more heavily doped islands (which have lower collector resistance) can be used to achieve the desired BVCEO due. to the deep P screening effect.
• this second embodiment may be augmented by the introduction of the impurity concentration- tailoring region 23, described above.
• N region 23 is no deeper than guard region 61, as shown in broken lines in Figures 5 and 6, so that a depletion region is formed between the guard region 61 and the substrate 12 at the lowest possible voltage.
• the above-described impurity concentration- tailoring region may be employed to reduce the resistance of the drain-drift region of a DMOS structure, diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 7 as comprising additional surface insulator and gate electrode structure. More particularly, in the DMOS device shown in Figure 7, N island region 21 acts as the drain, having an N+ surface dram contact region 71.
• P type body region 72 is formed in a surface portion of the island spaced apart from the drain contact 71.
• An N+ r source region 74 is formed in a surface portion of body region 72 so as define the width of the channel region 75 between the island 21 and the body region 72.
• a thin gate insulator (oxide) layer 81 Overlying the channel is a thin gate insulator (oxide) layer 81.
• a layer of gate conductor material (e.g. doped polysilicon, metal) 82 is formed on the gate insulator layer and overlaps the source region 74 and island region 21, so as to extend over channel region 75.
• a (drain drift) resistance-re cing region 83 extends from the top surface 84 of -che island to some defined distance deeper than the depth of the channel-containing body region 72, so that it extands beneath the bottom 76 of the channel- containing body region and above the bottom 22 of the lower impurity concentration island region. Again, the lowest impurity concentration of the island region occurs beneath the bottom of the body region.
• the support substrate is biased at a voltage less than the drain voltage, so that the island region between the body region and the underlying support substrate becomes totally depleted of carriers before the breakdown field is reached in that region.
• biasing of the substrate 12 may be accomplished by means of an ohmic contact to the substrate or by a non-mechanical coupling mechanism, as long as the substrate assumes a voltage less than the voltage of the collector (island) , so that the region between the base (or channel body in the case of a DMOS device) , and the substrate is fully depleted before a breakdown field is reached.
• Such non-contact biasing of tie substrate may be effected by leakage current equalization (net current to the substrate must be zero) or c ⁇ pacitive coupling. Either technique will establish a suostrate bias that is intermediate the most negative and most positive voltages applied to the integrated circuit.
• the considerable occupation area (and thickness) of transistor structures that achieve low collector resistance by means of a buried subcollector region at the bottom of the island is substantially reduced by means of a thin dielectrically isolated island structure, in which the impurity concentration of the reduced thickness island region is tailored to provide a region of reduced resistance for providing a low resistance current path from an island location directly beneath the emitter region to the collector contact.
• the potential of the support substrate is established at a value which is less than the collector voltage, so that the portion of the collector (island) directly beneath the emitter projection onto the base is depleted of carriers prior to the electric field at that location reaching BVCEO, so as not to effectively reduce BVCEO. Since the support substrate bias potential depletes some of the region of the island beneath the base region of carriers, the doping of the island can be increased compared to the case where the substrate is not biased, while maintaining the electric field at this location less than the BVCEO field.

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• Bipolar Transistors (AREA)
• Thin Film Transistor (AREA)
• Element Separation (AREA)
• Insulated Gate Type Field-Effect Transistor (AREA)

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• 1990
  • 1990-12-20 EP EP91903120A patent/EP0462270B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-12-20 WO PCT/US1990/007562 patent/WO1991011028A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1990-12-20 DE DE69033619T patent/DE69033619T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1990-12-20 JP JP91503294A patent/JPH04506588A/ja active Pending
  • 1990-12-20 AT AT91903120T patent/ATE196035T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1990-12-20 ES ES91903120T patent/ES2152919T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-12-20 BR BR909007213A patent/BR9007213A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1991
  • 1991-01-08 KR KR1019910000169A patent/KR0170774B1/ko not_active Expired - Fee Related
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  • 1991-02-22 TW TW080101388A patent/TW197532B/zh active
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